Every year before WWDC, there’s a bit of excitement, and I personally look forward to the new software updates that will come to Apple devices in the next year. There’s always a lot of speculation about what might come and how it will be presented. The WWDC 2025 keynote is exactly a month from today, and my excitement towards this day and the next year of Apple’s software release is marred by what has been happening lately.
Rumoured Design Changes
This year, the main rumour is that all of Apple’s operating systems will be getting a new design. This new design is expected to be based on the VisionOS operating system introduced last year. The last time there was a major redesign on an Apple platform was in 2013 when Jony Ive took the helm of the design department after Scott Forstall’s infamous departure from Apple. I remember the excitement around the then rumoured new design. iOS 7 was strikingly different, both good and bad.
This is the second time, believe it or not, since iOS was introduced that we are getting a new design on iOS (and also on other platforms). The main question is – Can Apple pull it off? iOS has grown significantly since the last time there was a paradigm shift in design, and the rumour is that this change is across ALL of Apple’s operating systems – not limited to iOS.
Users have been asking for a “Snow Leopard” year, meaning a year with not many features but a year where Apple takes time to refine their software and sort out performance and stability of their operating systems, but it looks like that year is not this year.
Apple Intelligence Failures
With Apple’s misfortunes surrounding Apple Intelligence and features that were promised at last year’s WWDC not yet coming to light, there are questions about whether they will ever come to fruition. Apple promised a lot, but delivered many half-baked AI features. Although I have found the clean-up features on the Photos app and notification summaries helpful, they are not groundbreaking as Apple promised. When I wrote about Apple Intelligence after last year’s WWDC, this is what I said:
I hope when these AI features are rolled out during the course of the next year, Apple Intelligence is good as they claim it to be. Apple cannot afford to fail when they are the only company that people trust, and possibly the only company out there that can bring personal AI to the masses. To quote Apple from WWDC “Apple Intelligence is AI for the rest of us”. And I hope it is.
Yeah, Apple failed.
The fact that last year Apple showcased or demoed AI features that were not actually implemented is not something Apple is known for. Because of this, Apple’s mantra of under-promising and over-delivering has been compromised.
The question is, will Apple even address these failings on the stage at WWDC? Steve Jobs was humble enough to have his “Why should I trust them? They’re the ones who gave us MobileMe!” moment, but can Tim Cook even pull something like that off? Or even if he can, will he? There are so many questions, but I guess we will have to wait four more weeks to know.
Developers, Developers, Developers
With all the issues surrounding the App Store – Apple taking a high cut of app store fees, not willing to provide alternative payment systems, legal and antitrust issues around the globe in different markets – it is without doubt that Apple has sort of abandoned the people (i.e. the developers) that made Apple great. It is the developers who made the iPhone as successful as it is today. They are the ones who made the Mac and the iPad the successes they are today. It is one of the reasons the Vision Pro is held back today.
I personally feel less invested in WWDC this year because the trust I had with Apple is now somewhat broken. Apple is still my favourite company, but this year has been a year of “L”s for Apple. There is a lot of rectifying and course correction that the company should do, and I think it should start at WWDC: own up for messing up Apple Intelligence, make the design an easy transition for developers, and let developers have access to the internal APIs so their work is easier to port their apps to the new design language.
And most importantly, treat the developers fairly – both new and old, those that belong to massive corporations and the indie devs. I am not a developer myself, but I know Apple’s software platforms are suffering because of its relationship with its developers, and it’s high time that Apple actually embraces the people that make their platforms great.
I want WWDC 2026 to be something that I am excited for, looking for greatness from a tech company that delivers on both cool and great tech as it is known for, and that, I believe, can only start if WWDC 2025 is where Apple fixes its shortcomings.
